Georgi Dimitrov - Leipzig Trial and Comintern Leadership

Leipzig Trial and Comintern Leadership

In 1933 he was arrested in Berlin for alleged complicity in setting the Reichstag on fire (see Reichstag fire). During the Leipzig Trial, Dimitrov's calm conduct of his defence and the accusations he directed at his prosecutors won him world renown.

During the Leipzig Trial, several German aviators who had been trained in secret in the Soviet Union were arrested. They were released when, after secret negotiations, the Bulgarian communists Dimitrov, Vasili Tanev and Blagoi Popov tried in Leipzig were allowed to leave for the Soviet Union. There Dimitrov was awarded Soviet citizenship. The massive popularity he enjoyed made him an asset of Joseph Stalin's government, and Dimitrov was appointed General Secretary of the Comintern from 1934, remaining in office until the organisation's dissolution in 1943. He asserted himself as a Stalinist during and after the Great Purge.

In 1935, at the 7th Comintern Congress, Dimitrov spoke for Stalin when he advocated the Popular Front strategy, meant to consolidate Soviet ideology as mainstream Anti-Fascism — a move later exploited during the Spanish Civil War.